I'm very much into RTS games and have played a lot over the past years and have been disappointed . having played a lot of these games i won't say i'm an expert but i can definitely tell you points that makes a game the best.

Up to now the best RTS game i've ever played is Empire Earth 1. You had complete control of what you did you could look at things at a micro level or at macro level. Whenthis game was made it was made by a very small team , no hype what so ever. But like all good things, at some point are known to the right people .

1) in my experients a game made by a small group are better. A small group tell us that the game is still the brain child of these individuals who had little funding from investors. This is good because investors don't dectate how the game is to be made. The bigger the investors the crappier the game in 99% of the time. Investors are more into the marketing than the actual game play . Game makers are about the game itself , vs, investor all about the money at the point of release. This so evident in the current games we see .
CREATOR OF DAWN OF FANTASY, TRUST ME YOU DON'T NEED TO MUCH HYPE AS LONG AS YOU MAKE A GOOD GAME EVENTUALLY PEOPLE WILL KNOW AND THEY WILL BUY THE GAME . BUT IF YOU DECIDE TO GO THE BIG HYPE ROAD YOU WILL SEE HOW MERCIFUL CRITICS AND GAMERS CAN BE. SO IT IS BETTER TO HAVE LITTLE HYPE AND LEAVE EVERYTHING TO THE ELEMENT OF SUPPRISE.

2) Most game these day have fancy graphics, but not appropriate to the actual theme of the game itself. Especially when it comes to RTS games , it just has to be spot on. The characters can't be to big, cartoonish or ant looking, and no stupid comentary. Most RTS game are about some kind of war, then it is imperative that the screen map dosen't look too busy it has to be nice and clean so that players can plan out their tactics with out problems

3) The very nature of the name RTS tell you it is a complicated, more so challenging game that envolves calculating to win. If that is true then why do most RTS producers and game makers assume we are stupid . Its ironic is not that the very people you are trying to get to play these sort of games are people who love thinking hard and long yet you make these game as thought they were intended for a 5 yr old . Do 5 yr old have purchasing power can 5yr old think upto that level? Yet you see game developers spending 2-3 yrs making a game, for what?
I.m not saying don't make it enjoyable for everyone all i'm saying is know your market.
A good RTS has 100% micro management ie i can fine tune a hero, control the movemt of a single soldier or worker if wanted, by placing markers, and a timer telling them f for how long they should do it, you can set defensive or offensive, i can set them to guard over a group at all times, maintain a surtain distance , start attacking when enemies have crossed this barrier. Micro is for the die hards of RTS. A good RTS should also have 100% macro ie when i feel that it is better for this particular objective to be automated then i can use macro. So option have to be always available to players .

yes producers of Dawn of fantasy you have showed us a lot of pictures and have managed to merely graze on the details of the game. But the truth is i know it and you know you have told us, the die hard RTS fans ,nothing. We want the nuts and bolts detail i.e a walk through explaining why it is a good game , how deep is the micromanagement ,more information on the online play MMO as they say it.

conlusionBased from all the information i have from you about Dawn of fantasy you have the ability to make a RTS game that will be used as a bench mark for all other RTS games for some time to come . What idawn of fantasy is , is a game that looks into all the best RTS games evermade - taking all the strong points. You the also looked at what the best games pitfalls were , used it to you radvantage. And you also looked at the worst RTS games that had very good concepts but not well thought out. Just remember you know what you are doing because, you won't be the first company to try . All you have to do is ask the Empire Earth 3 -the most terrible game you can ever think off. The truth is no player played it because it just made you sick hearing silly comment and stupid cartoonish characters. So no one ever gave it a chance.

verdict So dawn of fantasy has the ability to be the best or the worst game ever made.
Will just wait and see.

Second I believe the developers are attempting to make the best RTS that appeals to the most people. Given that everyones preferences vary from heavy micro to focused on macro control, a balance must be found. As for asking for the nuts and bolts of the game so you chew on the details be-wear what you ask for. One developer could have more experience playing micro games and give X example, limited to there standards. Then a different developer could have little micro experience and give Y example, one that micro is too much. The developers own experience and there examples could cause you to not get the full picture. Another possibility could be that they are still working on the nuts and bolts as we have heard that the company is working on the rendering of the game models.

So in conclusion please be patient as the game is under development and step away from the instant gratification current society is shoving down peoples throats.

Why would you want all the details about the game? It wouldn't leave much to the imagination about the game when you got it, and due to some bias when you got it if it didn't match up to the details you would be disappointed. Just wait and enjoy the game when it comes out.

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I hate to ressurect this, but Reverie, after my hopes of ever finding another good multiplayer RPG (NOT MMORPG, if I needed to loose money, I'd burn it), completely squashed today... I beg of you to be amazing

what else would a rts be about... tea and biscuits... that was a stupid comment.

ahahah how very strategic of you i shall now dunk my biscuit in your tea i win :P

Yeah i agree with them also, you cant want to know everything instantly, i mean the developers havent finished making it so they could tell us things they plan to do then we could be let down when they dont appear.
Also some games the public know everything about, take assassins creed, we knew exactly how it was going to function, exactly what we were going to do and exactly how to do it before the game even came out, it was a good game dont get me wrong but it never lived up to its hype due to us knowing everything about it (no surprises to make us pleased)

I hope this game is good of course and i hope it has good micro and macro but the main thing is not to just concentrate on one or the other but find a balance as was already pointed out

And whoever said Command and Conquer surely hasnt played the older versions at least, they were just whoever had the most troops wins no strategy at all really